["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening. Tonight we're in 2 Peter chapter 3.
And the Bible reads,
The second epistle, beloved, I write out unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance,
that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets
and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
knowing this first, that there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts,
and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out in the water,
whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in the store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, but is some men called slackness,
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to His promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,
wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things,
be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
And account that the longsuffering of the Lord is salvation,
even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you,
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,
in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest,
as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before,
beware lest ye also, being led away with the air of the wicked,
fall from your own steadfastness.
With grown grace, and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
Let's pray. Dear Lord God, thank you for this church that you've given us, Lord.
Thank you for the King James Bible, and we just pray right now
that you give Pastor Mejia a filling with the Holy Spirit, Lord,
as he preaches unto us your word, Lord, and just bless the service in every aspect.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Okay, we're in 2 Peter chapter 3, and look down at your Bibles at verse 15.
It says in account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation,
even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest,
as they also do the other scriptures unto their own destruction.
And the title of my sermon this evening is Teaching False Doctrine.
Teaching false doctrine. Now this morning, I gave a warning regarding believing false doctrine,
but now the warning is going to be, be careful not to teach false doctrine.
And so this morning we talked about how important it is that we study the Bible,
and we're in church, in the pillar and ground of truth,
in order to avoid being deceived into believing heresies and false doctrines.
But let me say this is that it's also a possibility that Christians can teach false doctrine.
And so that is equally as dangerous as believing it,
because of the fact that you can lead people astray,
you can get into other heresies that are bad,
and essentially, you know, and cure the wrath of God upon yourself
because you're teaching those false doctrines,
but also just lead people astray just in general.
Now, how do people teach false doctrine?
Well, I'm going to give you three things by way of introduction,
in the manner of which people can teach how they do it.
Go with me if you would to 1 Corinthians 2, if you would.
1 Corinthians 2, we'll come back to 2 Peter 3.
So put a pencil there or a piece of paper in 2 Timothy 3.
First and foremost, let's talk about this.
How do people teach false doctrine?
Number one, by using obscure passages.
Now, it's funny because we're just kind of talking about this
outside of the building, prior to the service,
and Brother Morgan asked me, what is one of those doctrines that,
false doctrines that are just easily to debunk?
They're just easy to debunk and to refute.
And I said, well, of course, a workspace salvation.
And one of the reasons I said that is because of the fact that
obviously multiple scriptures in the Bible,
throughout the Word of God, can be used and twisted
to teach a myriad of different heresies, right?
But when it comes to the subject of salvation,
the topic has permeated the scriptures in such a clear manner
that we just have mounds and mounds of evidence
that teach clearly that salvation is by believing,
that it's by faith alone, that you can't lose your salvation.
And so what false prophets will often do
is that they will pick obscure passages to teach heresy.
They can't use John 3.16 to teach heresy because it's so clear.
They can't use John 3.36 to teach any heresy because it's so clear.
There's so many passages, they can't use Romans 4.5
because it's just so clear what it's saying.
So what they have to do is go to the dark sayings of the Bible
in order to promote and propagate some sort of heresy.
Now, why is that?
Well, because of the fact that obscure passages
can often have a myriad of different interpretations.
People can look at an obscure passage that it's hard to understand,
hard to interpret, and people will come up with various interpretations of what it means.
And so what they'll often do is that they will attack foundational doctrines
such as salvation, the deity of Jesus Christ,
but they will point to obscure passages in order to do so.
I mean, explain to me why the Jehovah's Witnesses
always wanted to go to the Book of Ecclesiastes to teach soul sleep, right?
Why do they go to Old Testament passages such as the Book of Ecclesiastes
to talk about salvation when the Book of Ecclesiastes has nothing to do with salvation?
It has to do with wisdom and life in general.
The major emphasis of the Book of Ecclesiastes
is not to teach systematic theology on justification.
But that's what they'll go to because of the fact that it's easy for them
to take a dark saying in that book to twist to talk about salvation in some form.
Why is it that the false prophets of this world will go to Hebrews 6 or Hebrews 10
to try to teach that you can lose your salvation, right?
Because of the fact that those are some obscure passages that are hard to be understood.
And the Apostle Peter readily recognized that as wise as the Apostle Paul was
and as endowed with the Holy Spirit as he was to teach the Bible,
you know, some of his epistles are hard to understand, right?
I mean, out of all of the epistles in the New Testament,
the most difficult of all of the writers of the New Testament,
we obviously know that God is the author,
some of the most difficult books to understand and interpret is the Apostle Paul's.
I mean, you go to 1 and 2 Corinthians, there are some dark sayings in those books
that are hard to interpret.
And Peter said of the Apostle Paul,
Regarding his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood.
And we're talking about this on Thursday because I'm teaching through the book of Hebrews.
You know, Hebrews can be difficult, especially for newer Christians.
It's very difficult to understand and a lot of run-on sentences, so to speak, in the book of Hebrews.
A lot of different imagery and language that is hard and difficult to understand.
And please don't be this kind of Christian that says,
Oh, it's hard for you, it's easy for me.
Why isn't it easy? It should be easy for everyone.
Okay?
We should never have this attitude that everyone's just at the same spiritual level as you are or something like that.
And obviously understand that if you think you know everything, you probably don't know anything, okay?
And so, you know, the book of Hebrews is definitely a book that is hard to understand.
And he's telling us that because the epistles of Paul are hard to be understood,
people will take advantage of that and try to twist his writings in order to teach false doctrine unto their own destruction, the Bible says.
Because it says, you know, with they that are unlearned and unstable, rest.
Rest is not really a word that we would use today.
But you think of the word wrestle, okay?
It means to twist, take out of context, teach false doctrine.
So they will take the epistles of Paul, statements that he made, and rest them, twist them in order to change the interpretation thereof.
Okay?
Why?
Because they're obscure and they're kind of open for interpretation sometimes.
And there's definitely passages in the Bible, not dealing with salvation, not dealing with the deity of Jesus Christ,
or that which is foundational to the Christian faith, that can have multiple interpretations based upon who you ask.
Okay?
And for example, you know, we're teaching through Hebrews chapter 1 on Thursday,
and I was explaining some of the interpretations of who the identity of the angels, right?
But obviously I could be wrong.
You know, I was talking about the fact that the angels could be referring to just angels as celestial beings,
or referring to the fact that angels in Hebrews chapter 1 are referring to prophets, or it could be both.
Now the great thing about that is that it doesn't change the price in tea in China,
because the interpretation, the main interpretation of that chapter is that Jesus Christ is superior to both.
Right?
But people can take these obscure passages and then try to attack foundational teachings of the Bible
using those obscure passages to do so.
Now let me say this about obscure passages in the Bible.
As I mentioned, sometimes there's various interpretations.
But sometimes, listen to this, and people are not going to like this, but it's true.
Okay?
There are some obscure passages in the Bible that you probably are just never going to find out what it means.
That's just it.
And people are like, well we need to go to the Greek then.
But if you actually learn Greek and read Greek, you'll see that it's just as hard as Greek, in Greek, as it is in English.
Because the KGB translators did such a good job translating it, that when they saw that it was difficult in Greek,
they translated just the same in English, and it's still difficult.
So they were very faithful, they had integrity when they did the translation,
because they recognize if this is the way God wanted it to be, then this is how we're going to have it.
Let me read to you from Deuteronomy 29, verse 29.
It says,
So, you know, don't try to rack your brain over the really obscure passages that you can't seem to come to a conclusion on.
Why? Because maybe at the end of the day, you're not going to be able to interpret it.
Okay?
Kyla, put that down.
You're killing me over here.
Pink thing flinging all over the place.
And so, that's my daughter, so don't worry.
They're like, man, a pastor just calls out kids like that?
The secret things belonging to God, you know, focus on the things that you can interpret, the things that are revealed.
But just recognize that false prophets, the way they teach false doctrine is by using obscure passages of scripture.
When they talk about salvation, they never go to the book of John.
Right?
I mean, the best chapter to go to is John chapter 3.
Super clear, very concise, very easy to understand.
Why? Because God wants people to get saved.
They have to go to some obscure passage or go to obscure verses in the other gospels having nothing to do with salvation and use those to try to teach salvation.
Why? Because they want to have a corner of truth on a particular verse dealing with salvation or whatever it may be.
But they always use obscure passages to do so.
Now, what's another way that people teach false doctrine is, I mentioned this, but they take verses out of context.
They'll isolate passages or they'll pick a particular passage and they will isolate it and take it completely out of context and they won't compare scripture with scripture.
Okay?
Now, what is a good example of that?
Well, how about James chapter 2?
That's a perfect example.
You know, these works-based salvation types, again, never go to Romans chapter 4, which is a good passage to compare James chapter 2 to.
Because they're talking about, they're essentially, Romans chapter 4 is the antithesis to James chapter 2.
And, in fact, it uses the same person to exemplify both doctrines.
Who? Abraham.
One regarding his faith in Jesus Christ, his faith in the Lord to be saved, the other one to exemplify his works.
You understand?
And so, they'll often take verses out of context and they do not compare scripture with scripture.
Look at 1 Corinthians 2, in verse 15, it says,
So the best way to interpret the Bible is to compare verses with other passages of scripture to reinforce a particular doctrine.
Okay?
And so, whenever you run into a passage of scripture that seems to contradict the common narrative of the Bible,
just know this is that you go with the clear passages of the Bible, go with the ten clear verses that make salvation very clear,
and the one verse that seems to contradict it, which obviously it doesn't, you interpret that one using those ten.
Don't be like the false prophets that interpret the ten from the one.
And, by the way, when it comes to verses on salvation, there's more than ten.
Okay?
But that's what they'll do.
You know, you'll pull out John 3.16, John 3.36, Romans 4.5, Ephesians 2, verses 8-9, Titus 3.5,
I mean, just a slew of verses that is very clear on salvation, and then they'll take you to Hebrews chapter 10.
Okay?
And so, no, you interpret Hebrews 10 off of those other scriptures.
Do not take verses out of context, but this is what they do.
They'll take it completely out of context.
And let me just say this, is that if you isolate any verse in the Bible, you can make it say anything you want.
You can make it say anything you want.
You take one verse out of the Bible, hey, how about this?
Turn to flight the armies of the aliens.
You can make that basically say whatever you want.
I'm sure there's someone in Miami, Florida right now who's going to use that verse to teach that the alien invasion in Miami, Florida was a legit thing.
And I've had people send me that verse, not for this particular situation, but in times past,
like, turn to flight the armies of the aliens.
I'm like, aliens are foreigners.
They're like, no, no, no, they're space aliens.
And so you can basically make it say whatever you want, but it's important that when you look at verses in the Bible,
you interpret it based upon the previous...
When it says con, when we talk about context, con means with.
So you compare it with the verses prior to the verse, after the verse,
you compare it to the chapter that it's in, the book that it's in, and ultimately the entire Bible.
Does it match the narrative of the rest of scripture?
You understand?
And so people will teach false doctrine by using obscure passages, by taking verses out of context.
Turn with me, if you would, to 1 John chapter 2.
Here's another way that people will do it, is that by giving the traditions of man scriptural authority.
And this is very much a thing in the Old I.F. Beam, and in different churches, not just the Old I.F. Beam,
where they will teach a particular doctrine that holds no water in scripture,
but because everyone's always taught it this way.
Everyone's like, are you trying to tell me that the church fathers are wrong,
and every church father believed this?
If every church father believed that, then they're wrong. Yeah.
Plain and simple.
You know, are you trying to tell me that every single church father, every single pastor who has ever taught this is wrong?
Yes! If it doesn't match up with the Bible, I don't care if it's tradition, it's wrong.
But they'll often point to tradition as a means to prove doctrine.
Now, here's the thing, folks, is that I'm not against tradition,
because there are certain doctrines that are traditionally held by Christians that are actually scriptural,
and you know why we know that? Because it matches up with the Bible.
For example, the traditional view of the Trinity is the traditional view of Christians all across the board,
but that can be compared to the Bible.
So, the scripture is always preeminent, and if a tradition matches up with that,
or doesn't take away from that, then it's okay to have.
But to say, well, you know, we've always taught the preacher of rapture, and that's why it's true?
Because pastors have always taught this, men of God who've had bigger ministries than you,
served God longer than you, read the Bible more than you, have taught this doctrine,
you're trying to discredit years of Bible college and all this, that doesn't matter, though.
Holds no water. And in fact, it makes you look even worse.
Because if you did study the Bible for that long and you're still pre-trib,
if you've been a Christian for that long and you still believe that,
it doesn't really give you a whole lot of credit, okay?
The Bible says in Matthew 15, verse 9,
But in vain did he do worshiping, teaching for doctrines and commandments of men.
So, a way that people will teach false doctrine is by holding traditions to the same level as scriptural authority.
Now, the most notorious individuals for this is the Roman Catholic Church.
Even to the point where if you show them scriptures, refuting what they believe,
they'll point to their traditions and church fathers and the Roman Catholic Church.
But what's interesting is it's like, and then they'll say, we gave you that Bible, though.
And let's just pretend for a second that that were true.
It's like, well, if you wrote it, why do you contradict it so much, then?
Why am I able to use it to refute what you believe?
Why does it contradict Catholic doctrine?
Or how about this, why didn't you put the word Catholic in it?
Why did you choose to go with Baptist and not, why is it not John the Catholic instead of John the Baptist?
I'll tell you why, because you didn't write it.
You didn't compile it, you didn't write it.
You know, it's so nonsensical for them to make this argument, we gave you the Bible.
That doesn't give you any credit because everything you believe contradicts what you wrote, apparently.
So, there you go.
But they're more concerned with the traditions of man and what their, you know, pope says or whatever.
You know, this is how people teach false doctrine.
But the last way, by way of introduction, people teach false doctrine is by making themselves the source of truth.
Okay?
And what I mean by that is that sometimes pastors, obviously not just pastors, the Catholic church does this, Orthodox church does this,
you know, but we're just talking about Christianity in general, is that they'll make themselves the source of truth by saying,
you know, let's go back to the Greek.
Okay? And if you are only able to understand the Bible, if you study the original language,
or if you know what the original language says, you can make it say whatever you want.
And so pastors will get up and say, this is what the Bible says, but in the original language it says this.
And who's going to argue with them if they don't, people in the congregation don't know the original language?
But here's the thing, folks, is that we don't need the original languages to know what the Bible says.
You know, learning the original language helps and it expands some of the meaning and it helps you to understand that particular language
and sometimes it does give an expansion of a particular definition, but you're basically, it's pretty much the same.
Okay? And all you need is the Bible in your language to understand the word of God.
And you don't need to learn Greek, you don't need to learn Hebrew, you don't need to learn Aramaic,
you don't need to have one particular person just interpret the Bible for you, you can learn it on your own.
Look at 1 John 2, verse 26, it says,
Now this isn't saying that you shouldn't be in church because obviously the Bible doesn't contradict itself,
and the Bible teaches that you should be in church.
It's just telling you, you don't need to be dependent upon the pastor preaching at church to learn the Bible.
You don't need any man teach you.
Referring to the Holy Spirit.
So the anointing is referring to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, as the Bible calls him,
that can lead you into these truths in your personal Bible reading.
You're learning the word of God on your own.
And, by the way, that should be your goal for 2024, is that you're learning the Bible by reading the word of God,
and not just depend on other people to teach you the Bible.
Okay? So these are ways that people will teach false doctrine.
Now, let's talk about who's responsible for teaching false doctrine and why.
And I'm going to start off with the most obvious ones, right?
The false prophet, the one who's not saved, the men of corrupt minds is who I'm referring to here.
Go to Titus, chapter 1, and then we're going to go to 1 Timothy, chapter 6.
Go to Titus, chapter number 1.
And this is obvious, but it's always good to go over these scriptures in order to understand why they do this.
And when I'm talking about false prophets in this particular context, I'm referring to people who intentionally teach false doctrine.
Like, they know they believe wrong, but they're still going to teach it, and they have, like, a nefarious agenda behind it.
And yes, that does exist. Some people teach false doctrine only because that's what they've been taught.
They do it out of ignorance. Other people, like this group of people we're going to look at, they actually do it intentionally.
They want to deceive, they're being deceived, and they want to trick people into believing heresy.
I mean, it's crazy, and we can't really fathom that because we're saved people, but it does exist.
Look at Titus 1, verse 9. It says here,
Now, what is he saying there? He says, you know, there's a lot of people out there who are deceiving individuals, deceiving people,
and some of the main culprits of this are Jews.
Because when he says specifically they have the circumcision, circumcision is just another way of saying Jews.
And, of course, we know that the Jews were very much notorious in the New Testament for teaching false doctrine
and trying to get proselytes into Judaism and so forth.
So he's telling Titus, you need to be able to hold a faithful word because you need to combat these false teachers
who are vain talkers, they're deceivers, verse 11,
What does that mean? It means they're very destructive.
They lead astray households, teaching things which they are not, listen to this, for filthy lucre's sake.
So these particular false prophets will teach false doctrine, not because they actually believe the doctrine,
but because they're doing it for filthy lucre's sake. What is that? That means they want to make money off of it.
Unjust gain. They're trying to get rich off of teaching false doctrine.
This is essentially your modern day prosperity gospel preacher.
You know, send in your $100 and I'll send you a hankie that's blessed by my snot or whatever.
Some random stuff that they bring up or whatever.
Your seed of belief, send it in and we'll bless you and you'll have a miracle and all these things.
These are the individuals that are teaching things which they are not for filthy lucre's sake.
So their intention to teach false doctrine is to make money.
Now, who's the most famous out of all these people?
Well, in Jesus' day, it was Judas Iscariot, who literally joined the twelve because of the fact that he wanted to make money.
He had the bag. He was the treasurer of the twelve disciples.
And he essentially joined the twelve and started following the Lord, not because he was saved,
not because he thought Jesus was going to do something big as the chosen likes to portray.
You know, he's doing it because he sees it as a means of making money.
Even to the point where he betrays the Son of God for 33 pieces of silver and that's why he did that.
In the Old Testament, it was Balaam, the son of Bozor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, the Bible says.
What does that mean? He likes to make money doing unrighteous things.
That's crazy because one of the most unrighteous things you could ever do is portray yourself as a man of God,
preaching the word of God for the sake of making money.
Now look at 1 Timothy chapter 6.
So, the people who teach false doctrine are the false prophets and they'll do it because they're trying to make money off of people.
They're trying to fleece the flock. Look at 1 Timothy 6 verse 3.
If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud knowing nothing.
But doting about questions and strives of words, whereth cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds.
Now, what comes to mind here, and you may not know this name if you haven't been in the new IFP for very long,
but what comes to mind is Denlinger.
You guys remember Brian Denlinger?
This man didn't have a church. He's out in the middle of the woods and the guy is one of the biggest heretics of our time.
He's a major hyper dispensationalist.
And in fact, when our church got blown up by the fags, he made a video analyzing the bomb and he said,
you know, I think they CGI'd this.
He said, I CGI the bombing.
You say, well, you know, you say he's a false prophet, why isn't he a false prophet?
Well, first of all, he's a hyper dispensationalist, teaches dispensational salvation, which is a damnable heresy.
But he's known for doting about questions, strives of words, whereth cometh envy, strife, and evil surmisings,
perverse disputings, he is destitute of the truth, supposing to gain his godliness.
You say, well, did he do it for money?
Well, he has an entire video, listen to me, because he has a YouTube channel,
and I don't know if the YouTube channel still exists, I'm assuming it does,
because YouTube likes to promote false prophets, but he has like hundreds of thousands of subscribers,
and he made a video rebuking his subscribers for not giving him money.
Like he was coming down on them hard, he was just like, look how much came in this last month,
and I can't believe you guys aren't giving.
Well, he has the wrong motive, I thought he loved the truth, I thought he loved the word of God.
But he doesn't, he's just doing it so he can earn a buck.
He's supposing to gain his godliness.
And how embarrassing is that?
What a shame that is to go online and just like rebuke your followers for not giving.
Well, you know, Denlinger, you should wake up and realize that the only people who follow you are people as stupid as you.
People who are apparently as broke as you too.
Because they ain't got no money to give you.
So the motive that we see here with certain false prophets is that they want to make money off of people.
As 2 Peter 2 tells us, they want to make merchandise off of you.
They see the flock of God as money signs and they view them as an opportunity to make money and to just become rich.
And obviously there's examples like Brian Denlinger, but then there's extravagant examples such as Joel Osteen.
Now he, on the other hand, isn't necessarily teaching false doctrine because he just doesn't say in the Bible to even teach false doctrine.
Like to teach false doctrine you've got to at least quote some verses.
His is just a positive only type prosperity preacher.
But then there's others. There's others out there who are in it for the money.
And so actually let me read to you from 2 Peter. Go to 2 Peter 2.
And then after that we're going to go to Galatians 5.
2 Peter 2 verse 1 tells us,
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evill spoken of.
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words, fake words, swelled words, flattery is what it's referring to,
make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
So just keep in mind, according to verse 1, they will bring in damnable heresies.
They'll tell you what you want to hear. They'll pervert the way of salvation. Why?
Because they're making merchandise off of you. That's what the Bible teaches there.
Look at verse 14. It says in verse 14,
So sometimes the motive for an unsaved false prophet to teach heresy is money, covetousness, supposing they gain his godliness,
but other times it's because they have eyes full of adultery.
They have their temptation. What they're trying to do is take advantage of innocent people and essentially molest people.
Sexually abuse people, and that's something that has taken place.
You think of Jack Scott from First Baptist Church of Hammon, that's essentially why he became a pastor,
is to take advantage of individuals. Look at verse 15.
Go to Galatians chapter 5, if you would.
Let me read to you from Jude, verse 11. You're going to Galatians chapter 5.
Jude 11 says this,
So this is conclusively teaching us that people who prop themselves up in leadership positions to teach false doctrine for the sake of making money are twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
It's an evil individual who views the church as an opportunity to make money and steal money.
And so there are sins that are common to man, and even stealing is something that's common to man,
but God holds an individual who steals from a church, who would rob offerings and tithes or teach doctrine for the sake of stealing money as a person who's extremely wicked.
Someone who is twice dead, plucked up by the roots, referring to a reprobate.
God would esteem a person who's robbing a bank at a much higher level than a person who's robbing a church.
Let's put it that way.
So that is the false prophet, and I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on that because our church is pretty aware of that,
and we teach a lot on false prophets, and obviously when we talk about false prophets in that context, we're talking about people who are not saved.
Now some of them may pay lip service to the right salvation, because you may think to yourself,
well I know someone like that, but they claim to believe on Jesus Christ, but here's the thing is that they'll often just lie.
They'll just lie and just kind of put that out there because they know it'll help their self-interest or whatever it may be.
But let me say this, you're in Galatians 5. Heresy is not something that is only subject for unsaved people to commit.
Saved people can do that too.
You don't necessarily have to be a false prophet, reprobate, man of corrupt minds to teach heresy.
That's actually something that Christians are capable of delving into as well, and in fact the Bible calls it the work of the flesh.
Look at Galatians 5.19, it says now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these,
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past,
that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
By the way, I kind of missed sodomy in that little list there. That's interesting, huh?
That's not a work of the flesh necessarily. Being a faggot is not something that Christians can be.
Apparently according to this passage here, and it's a pretty exhaustive passage, it's a good list.
I mean it kind of covers like a lot of sins. Adultery, I mean murder, and even heresies, but being a faggot ain't one of them.
Why? Because you know Christians, as fleshly as they can be, will never surpass that boundary now, can they?
Oh, I know a friend who just became gay or whatever. Then the dude ain't saved. He's not saved.
The guy's not saved. He wasn't saved to begin with. And so, you know, sorry I'm looking at this list.
I don't see homo on here. I don't see queers on here. And it's not like they didn't have that word in Greek or something.
I don't see sodomite on here or anything like that. So obviously that's not a work of the flesh for an unsafe person.
Because it requires a reprobate to commit those things. And you know, it's funny, I don't see pedophilia either.
I don't see bestiality as being a work of the flesh. And the Bible talks about that. I don't see incest as a work of the flesh either.
It's a pretty exhaustive list. And those aren't armed there. Okay?
But the point that I'm trying to make is the fact that verse 20 tells us that a work of the flesh is what? Heresy.
So what is heresy? Well, we need to take into account that when the Bible talks about heresy, false doctrine and heresy are one and the same. Okay?
Now there is heresy and then there's damnable heresy. Heresy is when you just teach something that is contrary to the Bible, something that is not found in Scripture, something that is just wrong.
Damnable heresy is when you start teaching wrong things about the foundational teachings of the Bible such as the first principles of the doctrines of Christ.
It's when you start delving into the deity of Christ, salvation, heaven and hell. When you start teaching things that are contrary to those foundational doctrines, you're starting to delve into damnable heresy.
Now I don't believe that Christians can delve into damnable heresy. They might get carried away a little bit, maybe with some of the terminology.
But in general, I don't believe that any Christian will embrace damnable heresy if they're saved.
Like a Christian who says they are saved by grace through faith, if they're saved, next year they're not going to say that Jesus is the brother of Satan.
They're not going to be deceived by that. Or start believing in soul sleep. Annihilation of the soul.
Why? Because those are damnable heresies that require an unsaved person to believe those things.
The spirit of truth dwells within us. It will tell us that those things are wrong.
And especially if you're in a church, you hear enough preaching, it's essentially Christian common sense.
You don't have to have a deep understanding of those foundational doctrines to know that those false doctrines are damnable.
It's just something you kind of know right off the bat.
You know, someone tells you that Jesus was created, you're like, I don't know, that doesn't sound, I can't prove it, I don't know the Bible as well, but I just know that that's wrong.
You understand what I'm saying?
A certain doctrine is just like, I don't know how to prove what you just said is wrong, but I just know that it's wrong.
I can't point to the scriptures, but the spirit of God in me is telling me that you're full of crap.
But I want you to notice that heresy is. Christians can potentially become carnal and start teaching heresy.
Now what is the solution to, first and foremost, what is the solution to the false prophet?
Well, there is no solution for them other than they just need to go to hell, amen?
But the Bible also says that they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be made manifest.
So don't get all caught up in like, oh man, what if there's like a false prophet or something?
But don't worry about it. According to the Bible, God will expose them one day.
Because they can't proceed any further, and in fact the Bible says, now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith, and Janus and Jambres is referring to those who were essentially the sorcerers who withstood Moses during the whole altercation with them and Pharaoh.
And even though they were able to fight against Moses to a certain extent, they weren't able to proceed any further.
Eventually it was exposed that there were frauds.
So what it's telling us is that false prophets, yeah, they'll be among us, but eventually people will know who they are, they'll expose themselves, and they'll go away.
So that's the false prophets, but let's talk about saved Christians who teach heresy.
So who are they? Well, saved Christians who love the praise of men.
There are Christians out there who will teach heresy because they love the praise of men.
You're like, what? Yeah. They'll do it because they want to fit in with the pre-trib crowd.
They'll do it because they want to fit in with the Jew crowd.
The Zionist crowd. Go to John chapter 12, and then we'll go to Galatians chapter 2.
Actually, you're in Galatians already, right? Go to Galatians chapter 2, and then we'll go to John 12.
Now, this is something that is prevalent amongst those who are pre-tribbers and Zionists is that a lot of them actually know that it's wrong.
You may not know this, but a lot of them know that it's actually heresy because there's so much evidence to prove that it's heresy.
And we live in the age of the internet where there's so much information, you can just Google it.
And it may not even be the new IFP who's exposing it, it might be some other group who just shows from the Bible that the Bible teaches a post-trib pre-wrath rapture,
but they will continue to teach a pre-trib rapture only because they want to fit in with their pre-trib buddies.
Or how about this? You know, fundamental Baptists understand and know, or at least a lot of them do,
that the reign of the layer in 1960 is a trash Spanish Bible.
It's common knowledge now.
But a lot of pastors won't do anything about it in their Spanish ministries.
Why? Because they don't want to lose people.
So they're willing to allow their Spanish pastor to use a 1960 because of the fact that they don't want to ruffle the feathers,
they don't want to rock the boat or anything like that.
So they do it because they love the praise of men, they don't want to lose friends or whatever it may be.
And in fact, I know someone personally who admitted to me that he knows that the 1960 was wrong,
he knows it's a bad Bible, but he persists to teach from it.
And in fact, when I confronted him about it, he said this,
he said this, well, in my daily devotions I use the Gomez.
I was like, okay. And he's like, but when I preach I use the 1960.
And I'm like, oh, so you can have the Bible, but not your congregation.
And he readily admitted to me that the 1960 is trash, but till this day he uses the 1960.
You know why? Because he loves the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Because if he were to get rid of the 1960, all his preaching engagements would be canceled.
So there's people who are willing to just promote heresy, promote a false Bible,
only because it gets them in with their crowd, it gives them the acclamations and the admirations of their fundamental Baptist brethren,
and that's why they're willing to do it.
And to that I say, you have no integrity.
But what I'm showing you is the fact that Christians are capable of doing this.
They're capable of it.
In fact, one of the greatest Christians in the Bible fell into something like this, and that's Peter.
Look at Galatians 2 verse 9.
And when James, Cephas, and John, who seem to be pillars, Cephas is referring to Peter,
perceived that the grace of God was given unto me, that they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship,
that we should go into the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was for'd to do.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I wasstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did it with the Gentiles,
but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
So what do we have here?
We have Peter being a hypocrite, because he's eating with Gentiles,
but as soon as his Jew buddies come, because he's eating Gentile the way you're supposed to eat food,
which is you just eat anything you want, but as soon as his Jew buddies show up, he turns kosher.
Even though that's not even a thing in the New Testament.
And in fact, I heard a sermon about that this morning, about abstaining from meats.
He said, well this is a good example, but he's not necessarily teaching that.
Well, look at verse 13.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
So yeah, he's not verbally teaching this, but he's teaching this by example, which in turn affected Barnabas,
and he's becoming a little hypocrite too.
But when they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all,
If thou being a Jew liveth after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
And by the way, live as do the Jews, in Greek, is Judaios.
That's where we get the term Judaios from.
Because to Judaios someone is to compel someone to live as do the Jews.
So we have an example here of someone who is saved, who knows what the Bible says about Old and New Testament,
but yet proceeds to live in a hypocritical manner, where he's kind of forsaken the Gentiles, which is a biblical way of eating,
and making his meals kosher once the Jews show up.
Why? Is it because that's a conviction of his? Is it because he believes that's what the Bible teaches?
No, he knows it's wrong, but he's doing it because he is dissembled with James and his Jew buddies
and he wants to please them.
So you can see how saved people can get caught up in that.
Where they will teach false doctrine, and go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, if you will, 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
They will teach false doctrine to live in a certain manner, not because it's of conviction,
but because it's of convenience so that they can please the group that they're in or whatever it may be.
It's not truly something that they hold to as a core value, they're only doing it to please others, not to please Christ.
Now, what I have in turn, 2 Corinthians, I'm going to read to you from John 12 42.
It says,
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him,
lest they should be put out of the synagogues, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Now, there's some idiot online who was claiming that this verse teaches that the Pharisees believed on Jesus,
but they didn't confess him with their mouth. In other words, they didn't call upon the name of the Lord.
And that's why you don't have to call upon the name of the Lord because they were saved and they believed.
This is not talking about calling upon the name of the Lord.
This is referring to the fact that they didn't openly tell people that they believed on Jesus Christ
because they didn't want to get ostracized and evicted from the synagogues. That's what that's talking about.
And when it says believe here, because we compare scripture with scripture,
we know that when it says they believed, it includes with that calling upon the name of the Lord.
Look at 2 Corinthians 4 verse 1. Here's a verse of those pastors and full-time Christian workers
and people who are using the 1960, people who don't have integrity and will persist to teach and promote false doctrine.
Man, there's a lot I can say about that. Let me say one more thing because that same person
was believing the right doctrine all the while creating material of the complete antithesis of that doctrine.
So he's post-trib but he's making material for pre-tribbers. It's like, are you even a man of conviction?
Like what in the world? But here's a good verse for that. Look what it says in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 1.
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
The apostle Paul said, I'm going to walk before God with integrity. I'm going to renounce the hidden things of dishonesty.
I'm not going to try to get the Bible to say what I want it to say just so I can fit in with my buddies.
I'm going to teach what it says. You see, a man of conviction will preach and teach the Bible who cares who it offends.
If my preaching engagements get cancelled, then so be it. Screw your preaching engagement.
Why do I want to preach to a bunch of people who don't want to hear the truth? Right?
This is the attitude that people should have. It's the same attitude as the apostle Paul.
And look, the apostle Paul was the Pharisee of the Pharisees.
So when he became a Christian, there's a lot of people that turn on him because of it.
But who cares? Because at the end of the day, it's more important to be a person of integrity and honesty and to not handle the word of God deceitfully.
We are not as of many which corrupt the word of God. He's not twisting the scriptures. He's going to teach the plain reading of the scripture, the interpretation thereof, and not try to be a man pleaser.
Because that's exactly what these people are.
You say, why are they so concerned with their preaching engagements? Because preaching engagements comes with money, popularity, people know you.
Well, you know what? I'm thankful that people know who I am and I get invited to different churches to preach.
But you know what? I believe and preach this stuff before all that took place.
And I already determined when I was thrown out of our old church that, hey, at least we believe right.
I was like, this is what I'm going to raise my children on. We're just going to listen to Pastor Anderson for the rest of our lives.
And you know what? Believe these doctrines. Who cares if anybody knows us or not. I don't give a rip. At least I know that me and my wife believe right.
And I think God rewarded us for that.
It's like one of those things where like, it's like the Solomon thing, right? Where he didn't ask for riches or the life of his enemies. He just wanted wisdom.
And then God gave him those other things also.
But these guys are the types of people who teach in the Bible colleges, even though they don't believe some of the stuff that they teach.
They do it so they can fit in with their church, with their Christian school, with their Bible college. No integrity, my friends.
Alright, let's move on here before I lose it some more. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 1.
So what's another group that will teach false doctrine? So you have the obvious false prophets. You have those who want the praise, they love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
But then according to 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15, there's also unlearned and unstable people who will teach false doctrine.
Because he says, you know, there's certain things hard to be understood and the things that are hard to be understood based upon this passage, the people who should not be interpreting those passages are unlearned and unstable people.
And it's just another way of saying like a babe in Christ. Someone who just doesn't know the Bible very well, they haven't studied it for very long.
Unstable meaning, they're not really fully grounded in the Bible and in the disciplines of the Christian life. These people will rest the scriptures.
And, you know, it's possible that he's referring to wicked people, but it's also possible that he's just referring to individuals who want to interpret these dark sayings, but unintentionally teach false doctrine, twist the scriptures unintentionally, and it says unto their own destruction.
So just because it's unintentional and they think it's right, doesn't mean they don't suffer the consequences of teaching what's wrong.
Now this is important because of the fact that, you know, it's important for new Christians, babes in Christ to understand that you don't necessarily have to be an expert in Bible doctrine teaching.
For people to respect you or to admire you. If you just master the basics of the Christian life, that's great. You have a lifetime to learn the Bible.
So don't try to be this scholar of the Bible in three months flat or your money back type of thing.
You know, sometimes you just need to take your time learning the Bible and get grounded in the basics and foundational teachings of the Word of God before you start delving into these obscure passages and things that are hard to be understood.
Because you're unlearned and unstable, you're going to end up teaching some false doctrine. That's just it.
Now, how many of you have ever heard of pareidolia? Anybody ever heard of that term, pareidolia?
Well, you're going to learn something new today.
Pareidolia is a scientific term to describe the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern.
And let me give you an example of this. Let me give you just an easy example. You know, you go outside and you look at the clouds.
You guys ever done that? You lay on your back, you know, like the movies or whatever, and you just look at the clouds and then you create images out of those clouds, right?
Oh, it's a dinosaur, you know. It's a Jew or, you know, Star of David, you know, whatever.
That's called pareidolia because you see a random image and your mind kind of fits what it possibly is. It can make an image out of just a random object.
Now, that's cool, right? You know, you go out there and use your imagination and you look at clouds in the sky and you're just like, that looks like a train.
It's good to exercise your imagination like that, right? Instead of being on the video games and just playing that and then your imagination turns to crap.
But then there's spiritual pareidolia. Now, a very extreme example of this would be like Mexicans seeing the Virgin Mary on a tortilla.
Right? Isn't that a thing? You know, she's like, Dios mío, you know, she's just like, La vieja in Guadalupe.
It's just the burnt part, you know, the burnt part of the tortilla. Or, you know, it's just like a bolío comes out and then it's just, an image with two fingers comes up and it's like, it's Jesus.
Right? You guys know what I'm talking about? Where they see images and then what do they end up doing? They end up worshipping that image.
They report it to the Vatican and then the news comes and, you know, all these Mexicans are just, you know, they're just kneeling before it.
You know, I just want to be a part of that group and just be like, and just eat it. And just ruin their pareidolia.
But here's the thing, it's like one person saw that image. And you know what? Five people could have looked at that image and not seen it.
Because that one person saw and described it as thus, a lot of people were affected by it and they're like, Oh, I see it too. I see it too.
And this happens on social media too. Where you have a pixelated video or something, some shadow being cast and then they say it's an alien.
Right? Bigfoot, you know, what's another one of those cryptozoology type animals that people claim to see?
Skinwalker! That's a huge one. How many of you have ever heard that?
I mean, all of us should have known that. Looking at the camera, see if he's watching.
Skinwalkers! Where people look at a certain video and the pixelation mixed in with the shadows, mixed in with the lighting or whatever, creates an image and you impose an interpretation of that image in, oh, Skinwalker.
When there's actually nothing, it doesn't exist. You understand? That's called pareidolia.
When you see something, and you know what, sometimes it's fun to do that, not the Skinwalker thing, but you know, I remember as a kid, like looking at the wall where there's like a, what's this called?
What? Texture. Popcorn. Pareidolia! Hey, real time pareidolia right there.
You look at the texture of the wall. How many of you ever thought that was a kid? You look at the texture and then you kind of create images out of that. You know what I'm talking about?
I mean, as a kid I used to do that all the time on the ceiling and just look at images and just like make images out of the ceiling. That's called pareidolia. Understand?
But the extreme pareidolia would be seeing the Virgin Mary, seeing, you know, Caesar Borgia on a Bolillo or whatever, or you know, Buddha somewhere, you know, just viewing things that aren't there.
They're just imposing that. Well, you know what? We don't want to, as Christians, develop spiritual pareidolia either.
Where we impose an image upon the scriptures. Something that's just not there. You read something and you're like, oh I see something there.
Now obviously, there's instances where the Bible has symbolic nature behind it and there's things in the word of God, you read it and you're like, oh man, the Holy Spirit brings something to remembrance and it's just like, it's clear as day, it's right there, that's what happens.
But there's other times there's just, there's nothing there. There is no Virgin Mary there. There is no Caesar Borgia there. You're experiencing spiritual pareidolia.
And so let's not be those, there's enough symbology in the Bible to extract from the word of God, you don't need to start imposing your own.
Don't force, and I'm talking to the unlearned and unstable Christians. There's enough symbology in the Bible to extract from the word of God that you can learn from and appreciate and relish and enjoy, you don't have to create your own.
Because sometimes that can get you into false doctrine. Because you start imposing things that God's like, I didn't put that there. It's just not there.
Now look at 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 1, it says, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ which is our hope.
Unto Timothy my own son in the faith, grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge them that they teach nor their doctrine.
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so do.
Look at verse number 6, from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
So the Bible's teaching us here that there's individuals, if they're not careful, they can get carried about with fables, endless genealogies and start inserting pareidolia into the scriptures and it ends up turning into vain jangling.
It's just not there, it's just not there.
Now it's fun to look for symbolic things in the Bible, but folks don't force it.
It's just not there, it's just not there.
And look, I've read the Bible going on 17 years, multiple times, read the New Testament multiple times, I mean that's my job as a pastor is to read the Bible over and over again.
And I will run into symbolic representations of things and some things I just keep to myself.
I can't really prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Or if I do want to teach it, I always leave a back door and say it's possible that's not what it represents.
Because I can't be dogmatic about something that is just not clearly stated in the Bible.
And it's always fun to look for symbolic things in the Bible.
And it's always really neat when you find one, it's just like wow, that's really beautiful.
Because it's always a joy to find symbolic meaning behind a particular passage, the problem is when it's just not there.
And you're kind of just forcing that round peg into a square hole.
Don't be guilty of pareidolia, my friends.
Don't be guilty of it, because then you get involved in vain jangling.
I'd rather the unlearned and unstable Christians in our church become learned and become stable.
And the way you become learned and stable is not by looking for symbolic representations of the Bible, it's just by mastering the basics.
That's how you become a learned, stable Christian, amen?
But a lot of times they turn the side into vain jangling.
You're like, what's the problem with that? Well go to 2 Timothy chapter 2.
And look, if someone tells you you're wrong, take the correction.
And if someone tells you that's not what it says, don't just have this attitude of like, well I still believe it though.
Because then you're not going to go very far as a Christian because you obviously can't take correction.
You just want to come up with these corners of truth.
So the false prophet will teach false doctrine because they have an ulterior motive of making money, taking advantage of people.
You have people who will teach false doctrine who are saved because they love the praise of man more than the praise of God.
But then you have unlearned and unstable Christians who teach false doctrine because of the fact that they just want some corner of the truth.
They want to find that nugget, but all they find themselves is finding zirconias. There's no diamond there.
It's just you made it up.
Look at 2 Timothy 2.14, it says,
Of these things put them into remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about with words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Listen to this.
But shun profane and vain babblings.
So that's what people have to do when people bring up weird interpretations of the Bible.
I'm going to shun this.
I'm just letting you know you're being shunned right now.
This is profane and vain babblings, shunned.
Now why would we do that?
Well because the Bible says, look what it goes on to say,
For they will increase unto more ungodliness.
So if you start humoring them, they're only going to see more pareidolia.
So you've got to like nip it and say there's nothing there.
You know, do not be, you know in the morning we talked about having a spiritual Alzheimer's?
Well don't be a spiritual schizophrenic either.
Where you're just seeing things that just are not there.
Okay?
Why? Because then you will just, you're going to increase into more ungodliness
and because you're unlearned and unstable.
And look, just because the Bible says you're unlearned and unstable, it's not a slam on anybody.
Because we all start off as unlearned and unstable.
No one gets into the Christian life already knowing everything.
No one even knows anything until, you know, never.
You grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And you want to streamline your growth? Do it the right way.
Don't take spiritual steroids, okay?
To try to increase your spiritual muscle by enforcing things that are just not there.
Okay?
He says, verse 17,
And their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,
who concerning the truth have erred,
saying that the resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some.
So, Hymenaeus and Philetus started off with teaching some sort of heresy,
but because no one stopped them and increased into more ungodliness,
ultimately ending up to what? The resurrection's already past.
And this happens, my friends,
that if someone just goes unfettered without being checked
and they start teaching things and you're just not correcting them,
they will eventually go into damnable heresy,
or believing damnable heresy, teaching damnable heresy,
and then you just need to be corrected.
And what happens is they can overthrow the faith of some.
You understand?
So it's important that we as Christians recognize readily
that unlearned and unstable Christians can twist scriptures
and get this whole pareidolia complex.
Look at verse 22.
Flee also youthful lusts.
Now, I think of that and it's just like automatically you think of sexual sins,
but lust is just the desire.
Well, the beginning of 1 Timothy chapter 1 says that they desire to be teachers of the law.
So maybe a youthful lust can be someone, a young person,
who is just itching to be a teacher of the law.
Well, the Bible says flee that, follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace,
with them to call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Listen to this, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid,
knowing that they do gender stripes.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men.
Listen to this, apt to teach, capable of teaching.
And capable of teaching doesn't mean you have a silver tongue.
It means you're capable of clearly showing the scriptures that which is clearly stated in the scriptures.
And look, I don't want to discourage anybody from finding things in the Bible
because I love the fact that our church studies the Bible
and people come to me all the time and say, look what I found in the Bible
and sometimes I learn something.
I mean, I'm like, oh man, I've never seen that.
I mean, there's been times when I've talked to Brother Huyck and he tells me something
and I'm like, I'm stealing that from you and I'm going to teach it
and you taught it little, I shall teach it much and I'm going to take credit for it.
And what are you going to do about it?
I like when people in our church find things in the Bible.
I think that's great.
So I don't want to discourage you from doing that.
But what I do want to discourage is when the pendulum swings a little too much.
And sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't praise people for finding things in the Bible
because it operates as an enabler to start finding weird stuff that's not even there
and then they start teaching Paul's doctrine.
So I take it back, Huyck, you don't know anything.
No, I'm just kidding.
No, Huyck, I said amen.
Man, that was quick.
No, he knows some stuff.
I have great conversations with Brother Huyck.
Sometimes we'll just talk on the phone, talk about scripture.
And I think that's great, but you know what?
There needs to be a governor on those things though.
And you need to check yourself.
And you say, why are you making a big deal about this?
Because I don't want to teach Paul's doctrine in our church, amen.
And if it goes unchecked, then you just start teaching all these weird things that are not in the Bible.
You start saying foolish and unlearned questions, your gendering strives, things of that nature.
Here's the last verse. Go to Hebrews chapter 13.
Now, you know, there's people who can believe damnable heresy or even teach damnable heresy.
And I think only for a season.
Because if they're saved, someone's going to come to them and correct them and they'll change that.
And a good example is the church of Galatia.
The churches of Galatia, excuse me.
Where the apostle Paul's correcting them about salvation.
He's like, you've been so soon removed.
And he's saying he's afraid of them.
He's trying to cause them to question their salvation because they're trying to go back under the law.
And it's possible that some of them actually changed and it's just like, you know what, that was wrong.
I'm going to get back on track.
But let's just not even get to that point.
Now, what's the conclusion of the matter?
Well, here's the conclusion. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 9.
Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines.
Okay? Don't be carried about with those things.
Don't be a person who's just carried about and you want to create your own doctrines.
There's enough in the Bible to appreciate, enough symbology in the Bible to revel in and love and meditate upon.
Clear things don't get carried about with weird doctrines.
For it is good that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
And so, don't be a Christian who's carried about with every wind of doctrine.
And look, if you come up with a certain interpretation, you know, I think this is real, go check in with someone and don't get mad if they tell you that's not real.
It's like weird, you know?
Now look, I've had instances and I think this is, I do think this is different because I'm a pastor.
I've talked to pastor friends of mine and they will share an interpretation and I disagree.
And they'll teach it anyways because of the fact that, you know, and I believe they have every right to do so.
Because they are students of the Bible, they believe that that's what's true and they want me to challenge it.
And I've done that with my friends as well where I'll tell them, what do you think about this interpretation?
And I want them to play devil's advocate because I want to see if they can disprove it.
And sometimes we just walk away and they disagree and I'm like, well, I think he's wrong or whatever.
But you know what? A pastor is not an unlearned and unstable individual.
You know, they're an elder of the church type of a thing.
You know, the unlearned and unstable person needs to take correction and you do need to check in sometimes to see if those things are true.
Okay? And so these are the kind of people that will teach false doctrine and let's avoid that as much as possible.
Let's just, you know, this is often a joke that we say here at our church.
Brother, I just know that I'm saved.
Brother, I just know that I'm a fundamental Baptist.
You know, I just know that the King James Bible is the word of God.
You know, I hope you know a little more than that though.
You better know a little more than that if you've been in our church for any length of time.
But don't let the pendulum swing so far that you start getting into things that the Bible just doesn't teach.
If you get anything from this sermon, get this, pareidolia.
Do not develop spiritual pareidolia.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the great teachings of the word of God and there's so much to learn here, Lord.
And it's always enjoyable when we find a nugget of truth in the Bible.
But may the babes in Christ in our church and those who are to come,
may they make sure that they are proving all things, holding fast to that which is good.
And as a young Christian, part of that is just checking in with an elder.
And so I pray for you.